The Hand of Destiny

This magic item was inspired by the art of Fernando Salvaterra, whose Patreon I highly recommend you support.

According to legend, this mummified hand once belonged to a great adventurer who wandered into the wild in search of fortune and glory, but never returned. After years of searching, the adventurer’s companions only ever found this preserved, skeletal hand. Some say it was found in a dragon’s treasure hoard, while others say it was sitting on a tavern table still clutching a mug of ale, and still others claim it was found resting on a long forgotten map pointing at an abandoned treasure whose wealth was beyond imagination.

Once per day, the owner of the hand can ask it to point at the towards “adventure.” The hand will animate, extending its index finger in the direction of a location, monster, or treasure as noted below. If placed within thirty feet of a map, the hand will instead animate and point towards such a location, monster, or treasure’s location on that map. The owner does not know what exactly the hand is pointing towards, and the Referee should keep that answer a secret.

Roll (1d6) — The Hand Points To…
1 — The nearest dungeon
2 — The nearest monster with 5 or more Hit Dice
3 — The nearest magical item worth at least 5000 gp
4 — The nearest hoard of wealth worth at least 1000 gp
5 — The nearest cursed item
6 — The nearest dragon

Note: Instead of rolling on the above table, this item can be used by Referees to point the players to the plot hook they just can’t seem to unravel in order to guide them towards planned adventure. Shh! Don’t tell your players!